Galery

1

This is not very good for us. Both because it separates us from part of voters, and because the legend that we are an elitist party became famous, although we are not. Another myth is that the party is neoliberal, which is not true. A victim of this "labelling" is Stefanos Manos himself, who sees himself as a neoliberal, because he says things like "we have to cut costs" or "we need to reduce staff in the public sector" in a direct manner. To me, this is a "leftist" decision, because, if introduced, it will help the poorer. At the moment, the private sector is being destroyed, while the public remains unaffected. And this is called "left and progressive politics" in Greece.

We have to change people's perception of Drassi. We have to convince them that our proposals are fair to all. For example, a cut for pensions is now being prepared. Even before the first one we stated that the measures shouldn't be equal for all. To cut 10 per cent of a 5,000 euro pension is not the same as to cut 10 per cent of a 500 euro pension. And there are quite a large number of high pensions even today. Also, none of the governments took on to analyze the way pensions are formed. Because it is one thing to receive a pension from the National Insurance Fund, where for 35-40 years you have contributed particularly high payments, but you don’t have any privileges such as early retirement, and another thing to receive a huge pension from the fund of the National Electricity Company for example, where government funding is 28,500 euro a year per person. Because nobody in the private sector has retired at an early age and no woman working in the private sector has benefited from large maternity leaves and hasn't been able to retire at 42 and 45 years. This was valid only for the public sector and state enterprises. But when you say this is not fair, thousands of voices rise up to oppose. I cannot understand what kind of Left party is a party, which continues to support such injustices.

On the other hand we must not forget also the system which violently defends these branch interests. Literally all governments fear GENOP-DEI trade union's leader Nikos Fotopoulos.

The big pledge for us is to find the way to explain these things to people, so that they would understand that our proposals are not terrible, but logical. Not in order for them to vote for us, but just to understand that it is not possible for there to be retirees who receive money from the state budget or others - with money from the so-called third-party taxes. This is another great paradox. I am a lawyer and I can tell you that our pensions are largely financed exactly by such taxes. I.e. for a transaction, which doesn't even require the presence of a lawyer, people are taxed for the benefit of our insurance fund. As a result, lawyers pay much lower contributions than a cleaning lady in the National Insurance Fund. Our pensions are not high, but this whole financing system is unfair.

The same applies to the insurance scheme for journalists. It is financed by the so-called advertisement tax ("aggeliosimo"), which is 21.5 per cent. This means that part of the money we give to buy a can of soft drink, for example, is given to the journalists' fund. Last year, I calculated that when you buy a small car, worth 10 - 12,000 euro, the value of the advertisement tax is more than 100 euro. All these taxes are not only unfair but also create problems in the economy, because they increase prices.

The entire system just needs to be rehabilitated. It is clear that pensions should be financed, because contributions are not sufficient to cover them. But first you need to finance people with lower pensions or to cut higher pensions first. The burden is currently born by the majority of the population, since pensions under 700 euros account for more than 70 per cent of the total, and the so-called "noble" pension funds remain unaffected. And the Left doesn’t even mention the pensions in the National Electricity Company. And who is now more leftist, leaving aside the "labels" of the past. But, I am saying again, we are also responsible for the fact that and we cannot make our proposals clear to people.

You are the new chairman of Drassi after the resignation of Stefanos Manos, who took responsibility for the election result. Will there be changes in the party or will you continue with this management team?

Stefanos Manos has a very successful political career behind him. With great efforts, he managed to create a centrist space. After failing to get into parliament, he resigned, but has not retired from politics. He is still an active member of the party.

In principle we, as a new leadership, were elected according to the statute and will have to remain until the next regular congress in February 2014.

But the events are so intensive that the Central Committee has decided to hold the Congress in October or November, at which more people will legitimize a new leadership. Moreover, Drassi wants to grow, although it is not necessary that we would be the only ones, new formations can occur as well. In all cases, the chairman is very important for the image of the party. Stefanos Manos gave Drassi a very specific aspect. After his resignation, the party is no longer centralized in one person. To avoid any misunderstandings, I want to emphasize that he has never been authoritarian, but when ten people, who are not known to the general public, are sitting together with Stefanos Manos at one table, people define the party as "the party of Manos." Now nobody calls Drassi "the party of Karipoglоu" and this is good. There is a chance that it will change.

This means that we have to learn to act more collectively. We hope new faces will come as well and that all together we can decide how to get to the next elections, and above all how to help improve the situation in the country.